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Her heart was beating rapidly, heavy against her rib cage, and it was with practiced discipline that Eliya forced her breathing under control. One hand held the elongated dagger in front of her, the other hand rested against the stone wall of the corridor. Abandoning her initial attack had forced a brief uncomfortable confrontation between herself and the wall she was resting against; now she was about to quickly find out how much her hesitation would cost her.

"Coraline?" Eliya's voice echoed after the other woman's, surprise clearly evident in her voice. She lowered her weapon, the warmth of relief instantly swirling into the surprise she felt. "The Mage's Guild sent you?" She asked the question quickly, even answering herself aloud. "Of course they did." What possible other reason could there be for Coraline showing up unexpectedly in such a remote location? As the other woman still held up her weapon, Eliya realized she hadn't yet identified herself. "It's Eliya. Did you pass anyone on your way in?" She spoke swiftly, not giving the younger elf any time to speak. "My companion, Velryn, he has it. He has the crystal. We accidentally set off an alarm, and had to split up -". The redheaded Altmer stopped talking abruptly, realizing that she was rambling and hadn't even given the poor girl a chance to speak.

It was the adrenaline rushing, pumping through her elven veins that was causing her to speak so quickly. Eliya was not normally one to ramble, and yet even as she paused to allow the other elf to speak, her eyes darted this way and that, watchful for any danger.

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Eliya focused on slowing down her breathing as she finally gave the younger woman a chance to speak. At Coraline's query, the redheaded Altmer shook her head, her red locks moving as she did so. "Negative, he ran ahead of me so if you haven't seen him then he must have found another way to the surface." She turned her head without warning, cutting off any further words. Just as suddenly her free hand went up, motioning for silence. She strained to listen; her elven ears thought they had heard a sound. She waited tensely for a moment, and then slowly brought her attention back to the younger Altmer in front of her. Absently she realized she was still holding her dagger out at the other woman. She didn't lower it but turned it away so that is wasn't directed at her companion.

"Did you hear that? I thought I heard something. I'm going to cast a life detect--" Eliya's hushed words were abruptly interrupted as an arrow zipped between the two women and thudded against the stone wall. Even before the arrow had time to drop to the floor, Eliya was already in motion, grabbing Coraline and pulling her to safety around the nearby corner. Standing in an open dark corridor against arrows was suicide and the older high elf had no intention of her or her fellow mage dying this day. Two other arrows struck in immediate sucession against the corner that they had just disappeared behind. "Over here!" The sound of the archer calling for back up in the stillness of the ruin was easily heard, and Eliya gritted her teeth as she turned to the younger elf.

"Shall we fight or run?"

Though the question might have seemed simple, the only answer being one choice or the other, the weight of either choice held additional responsibility. Coraline was young but held much promise. The older Altmer wanted to know what she'd choose. Before Eliya had the chance to get a reply however, another voice shouted, coming from the direction they intended to go. The dim lighting of the corridor allowed the two elves to make eye contact. "Looks like we fight."

Coraline's answer surprised Eliya momentarily, but it shouldn't have. If there was anything she had learned about the younger Altmer during their Dark Brotherhood mission together, it was that Coraline did not shy away from doing what she must. She had proved proficient before and was doing so again. Without realizing it, Eliya realized she was smiling with something akin to pride. The smile quickly fell from her face as Coraline readied her weapon and unexpectedly lunged around the safety of their corner into the open fray. Granted that was exactly what they had been preparing to do, but Eliya had planned on going first, to lessen the danger to the elven girl. Cursing silently, the redheaded mage assassin followed after the other woman. Eliya's throwing knives were ready, two pre-poisoned, and as she came around the corner she paused for a brief moment, impressed with how viciously Coraline cut down the archer. Eliya leaned against the corridor wall as the other mage did the same to the opposite. Eliya caught the blond girl's nod, signifying she was ready to advance. Taking a brief moment, Eliya cast a spell of life detection and saw purple swirls advancing, but slowly.

It was time for them to take advantage of the moment and turn around and run to the exit. Granted there was definitely at least one more enemy between them and freedom. If not more. Eliya motioned to Coraline that they should go back and head for the entrance of the ruin. As Eliya was still closer to the corner they had originally been hiding behind, she moved quickly before Coraline decided to jump ahead again and take care of another person herself. The blond Altmer was brave, but wisdom and experience came with age and her courageous choices could be deadly. Eliya's life detection spell showed her three more people between them and the exit. One was advancing now, likely the one who had shouted earlier. Shimmering into invisibility, Eliya sneaked up on the human and dealt him a swift deadly blow. He was dead before his body crumbled to the floor. Now visible, Eliya looked back and waited for Coraline to join her. The room that held the bloody alter for sacrificing was just ahead, once through that just a few stairs, a corridor and sunlight!

The two women ran, casting life detection spells as they went. The purple hazed figure Eliya had initially seen was quickly joined by another. The mage assassin had no doubt that the two of them could efficiently cut down two necromancers so she didn't hesitate, but continued forward with long running strides. Her chest heaved as she breathed in and out, inhaling and exhaling the stale musty air of the ancient ruin. The two necromancers were quickly upon them but they were ready. Eliya didn't take her attention off the foe in front of her, despite there being two. Coraline had to hold her own. She wasn't a child and although Eliya felt protective towards her, any distraction at this point could be fatal. The Necromancer released a ball of flames at the redheaded Altmer as she ran towards him, preparing a spell of her own in one hand as she held a dagger in the other. She dropped to the ground barely in time to avoid the flames and rolled forward with the given momentum. She was up and attacking even as the hooded figure began to reach upwards and summon a creature.

The magical words on his lips died with him as Eliya's dagger found its mark. She turned quickly to check on Coraline, and saw the woman moving quickly towards her, her Necromancer evidently dead as well. I really need to stop underestimating this young woman... The mage assassin didn't want to waste any time and motioned for them to continue moving forward. The two women ran swiftly up the last flight of stairs and burst out into the dayllight. The incredible brightness of the sunlight mixed with the blue hues of her night eye caused Eliya to blink rapidly and nearly lose her step down the ancient ayleid stairs. Thankfully Coraline caught her arm and kept that from happening. The two women jogged a little ways from the ruin and knelt behind the blanket of some trees as they waited to see if anyone would come out. Eliya slipped her ring of night eye off her finger and into a pocket.

After they had had enough time to catch their breath, she motioned abstractly to where she'd tethered her horse. "My ride should be over there. Is your horse far?" The journey back to the University would be a good three days ride and Eliya was anxious to return, hopefully to the news that Velryn had successfully brought back the crystal shard.